Lawmaking
Chapter 2
Street Law Text
pp. 19-28
Statutes
• Federal and State laws passed by the
Legislative Branch
Ordinances
• Local [county/city] laws passed by
county boards and city councils
Supremacy Clause
• The Constitution and the Laws of
the United States….shall be the
supreme law of the land. Article 6
Lawmaking
• The Legislative Branch makes laws, but there are other groups that
also make laws
• Legislatures
– This one we understand… laws created by legislatures are called Statutes
– Each state has a 2 house legislature like the federal government that
passes statutes except for Nebraska
– Broad powers to state legislatures because of the 10th amendment
• Local Governments
– Cities, Towns, and Counties create laws called Ordinances
– Many of the laws we deal with daily are local ordinances
•
•
•
•
Agencies
Courts
The People
Laws are introduced in the form of Bills
– Ideas for bills come from legislators, the executive branch, individuals,
groups, businesses, and lobbyists
• After a Law is passed the people must obey it and the courts must
interpret what the law means Legislative Intent or if it is by Letter of
the Law
Problem 2.1
Decide whether each of the following is a federal, a state, and/or a local law. Then
give an example, not listed here, of a federal, a state, and a local law.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
No parking on the east side of Main Street between 4:00pm and
6:00am
All persons between the ages of 6 and 16 must attend school
Whoever enters a bank for purposes of taking by force or violence
the property or money in custody of such bank shall be fined not
more than $50,000 or imprisoned not more than 20 years or both
In order to sell any product on public streets, the seller must first
apply for and receive a vendor’s permit
No employer of more than 15 persons may discriminate on the
basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
All persons traveling on interstate airline carriers are subject to
search before entering the airplane departure area.
Bills
• Proposed laws at the Federal and State
levels.
Letter of the Law
• Black and White… what is written
in a law with no interpretation.
Legislative Intent
• The court interprets a law to
determine what the legislature
meant when creating the law.
Problem 2.2 “The Unclear Law”
The law seems clear, but some disputes have arisen over its interpretation. Interpret
the law in the following cases, keeping in mind what the law says (letter of the law) as well as
the legislative intent. Examine each situation and decide whether or not the vehicle described
should be allowed in the park. Write the reasons for your choices. When you finish analyzing
all of the situations, rewrite the law to make it clearer.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
Tony lives on one side of the city and works on the other. He will
save ten minutes if he drives through the park.
To keep the park clean, trash barrels are located throughout the
area. The sanitation department wants to drive a truck into the
park to collect the trash from the barrels.
Two police cars are chasing a suspected bank robber. If one police
car cuts through the park, it can get in front of the suspect’s car
and trap it between the patrol cars.
An ambulance is racing to the hospital with a dying patient. The
shortest route is through the park.
Elena wants to take her baby to the park in a stroller.
A monument is being erected to the city’s citizens who died in the
Vietnam War. A tank, donated by the government, is to be placed
beside the monument.
Amul uses an electric wheelchair and wants to visit the park.
Drafting a Bill
•
•
An “unclear” law is almost impossible to enforce
These questions should be asked an answered when
creating a statute or ordinance:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is the law written in clear language?
Is the law understandable?
When does the law go into effect?
Does the law contradict any other laws?
Is the law enforceable? If so, by whom?
Are the penalties for breaking the law clear and understandable?
Courts will not enforce laws that are so vague it is
unclear exactly what is prohibited “good reason”
If there is doubt about what a word means the courts
will interpret it in its “ordinary” meaning. This makes
legislatures write in plain English [vernacular] without
using difficult legal terminology.
Agencies and Lawmaking
• Federal, State, and Local agencies can also make
laws through their regulations.
–
–
–
–
OSHA= Occupational Safety and Health Administration
EPA= Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Homeland Security
DOT= Department of Transportation
• TSA= Transportation Security Administration
• Local Agencies
– Zoning, Health Boards, School Board
• Regulations are usually not passed until there
have been Public Hearings
Public Hearings
• Public meetings to discuss proposed
regulations by an agency of government
Problem 2.4
Choose one of the following:
a.
b.
c.
Find an article in your local paper about an administrative agency.
What is the agency’s name? What does it do? Is it part of the
federal, state, or local government? What does the article say
about the agency?
Find evidence of an agency at work in your community. What
agency is acting? What action is the agency taking? Is there any
way for the public to have an impact on the agency? If so, how?
Is the agency part of the federal, state, or local government?
Choose an occupation or profession (such as an electrician,
physician, lawyer, schoolteacher, or hair stylist). Interview
someone in that occupation to get answers to the following
questions: What agency or organization regulates the profession?
What are the qualifications for the profession? Are any licenses or
tests required? How does the agency decide who gets a license?
Is the agency part of the federal, state, or local government?
Trials
• A court proceeding.
Appeals
• To take a case to a higher court for a rehearing
Appeals Courts
• Courts that hear appeals or retry a case from a
lower court
Precedent
• Court decision on a legal question that guides
future cases with similar questions
Treaty
• An agreement or contract between countries.
Extradition
• Process in which one country asks another to
surrender a suspected or convicted criminal.
Advocacy
Chapter 3
Street Law Text
pp. 29-39
• In our democracy, citizens
are responsible for making
the law, usually through
elected representatives.
• Voting may be an
important obligation but an
individual’s lawmaking role
is far reaching.
• Citizens are responsible for
working to change laws
that are not helping to
solve problems and
working for new laws and
policies that help
communities, cities, states,
and the country.
The Art of Advocacy
• Advocacy is the active support of a cause.
• Persuading others to support the same cause is
also an important part of advocacy.
• Students are good advocates for not only
themselves but also for the community, state,
and nation.
• Advocacy takes excellent communication skills, an
effective plan, and quality research.
Lobbying
• Lobbying is a way to influence the lawmaking process by
convincing lawmakers to vote as you want them to.
• Lobbying though sometimes looked down upon is one of
our fundamental rights from freedom of speech.
• A lobbyist is usually employed by a group trying to
influence public policy.
• There are lobbyists for any and all things today.
• Grassroots lobbyists are people or groups that work to
convince a lawmaker to vote for or against a particular
issue by participating in rallies or letter writing campaigns.
• Grassroots lobbyists have neither the money or prestige of
many other lobbyists but they do have the VOTE usually.
• Critics claim that lobbyists “buy legislation”.
Initiative and Referendum
• Voting is a basic Constitutional right
• Initiative is a law proposed directly by the people, usually
through petition, that will be voted on by the people
• Referendum is a proposed law “referred” to the people for
a vote. Usually it is due to the fact that the proposed law is
controversial and the legislative body does not want to
take the blame for passing the law.
• Recall is an election to remove an elected official from
office.
Participating in Elections
• In 2012 in the United States 70% of eligible voters were
registered to vote.
• In 2012 64% of those registered voted in the Presidential
election.
• In 2004 only 55% of eligible voters voted which means 28%
elected George W. Bush to a second term.
• In 2008 68% of registered voters voted in the Presidential
election which is 57% of eligible voters so only 29% of the
voting age population elected Barack Obama.
• In 2012 51.7% of eligible voters voted in the Presidential
election so only 27.8% of the voting age population elected
Barack Obama.
• Voter turnout in the United States has been declining over
the years. Middle and upper class “whites” make up the
majority of voters.
• Canada and Mexico have similar turnout for elections… but
some of the newest democracies in the world have much
greater voter participation.
Voter Turnout 1960-2014*
2014*
2012 235,248,000
2008 231,229,580
2006 220,600,000
2004 221,256,931
2002 215,473,000
2000 205,815,000
1998 200,929,000
1996 196,511,000
1994 193,650,000
1992 189,529,000
1990 185,812,000
1988 182,778,000
1986 178,566,000
1984 174,466,000
1982 169,938,000
1980 164,597,000
1978 158,373,000
1976 152,309,190
1974 146,336,000
1972 140,776,000
1970 124,498,000
1968 120,328,186
1966 116,132,000
1964 114,090,000
1962 112,423,000
1960 109,159,000
135,889,600
174,800,000
150,990,598
156,421,311
141,850,558
146,211,960
130,292,822
133,821,178
121,105,630
126,379,628
118,399,984
124,150,614
110,671,225
113,043,734
103,291,265
105,037,986
96,199,0201
97,328,541
82,496,7472
81,658,180
76,288,2833
73,715,818
65,393,7514
64,833,0965
121,745,000
132,618,580
80,588,000
122,294,978
79,830,119
105,586,274
73,117,022
96,456,345
75,105,860
104,405,155
67,859,189
91,594,693
64,991,128
92,652,680
67,615,576
86,515,221
58,917,938
81,555,789
55,943,834
77,718,554
58,014,338
73,211,875
56,188,046
70,644,592
53,141,227
68,838,204
36.4%
51.7%
62.3
37.1
55.3
37.0
51.3
36.4
49.1
38.8
55.1
36.5
50.1
36.4
53.1
39.8
52.6
37.2
53.6
38.2
55.2
46.6
60.8
48.4
61.9
47.3
63.1
Obama
Obama
D
D
GW Bush
R
GW Bush
R
Clinton
D
Clinton
D
GHW Bush R
Reagan
R
Reagan
R
Carter
D
Nixon
R
Nixon
R
Johnson
D
Kennedy
D
Problem 3.3
a. Make two lists: one of all the reasons for voting
and another of all the reasons for not voting.
b. The following proposals have been made to
encourage more people to vote. Do you favor or
oppose each proposal? Explain your answers.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Allow people to register and vote on the same day.
Lower the voting age to 16 so some high school students
could vote
Keep the polls open for a week instead of a day.
Automatically register everyone who has a driver’s license.
Problem 3.4
a.
Each of the following persons served in the previous government
(the dictatorship) and now seeks a senior position in the new
government. Apply the proposed law to determine which, if any,
of these people should be allowed to serve. Explain the reasons
for your answers.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
b.
A well-trained scientist provided chemicals that the dictator used to kill
thousands of people of a particular ethnic group.
A university professor was required to join the dictator’s party in order to
continue her teaching.
The head of the housing department had given better housing to ruling
party officials.
A senior police official was generally known to be fair to citizens but had
enforced the dictator’s laws banning demonstrations. This person was also
active in the revolution that overthrew the dictatorship.
A theater director, jailed for antigovernment actions and regularly tortured
in prison, agreed to spy on others as a condition of his release from prison.
What are the reasons for and against having such a screening law?
If you were in the legislature of the new government, would you
support or oppose the law? Would you propose a change in the
law? Explain your reasons.
Campaign Finance
Reform
• Campaigns for office are expensive at almost every
level. [unless you happen to run unopposed]
• Critics of the current system argue that:
– People of low or middle income cannot run for office
successfully because they cannot raise huge sums of
money
– Special interest receive favors in exchange for substantial
campaign contributions
– Elected officials spend too much time raising money and
not enough time doing their jobs
• Campaign law is enforced by the Federal Election
Commission and the state Election Commissions
• Today each individual can donate $2400.00 to any
candidate for office.
Problem 3.5
a. Which of the following proposals is closest to your view of
campaign finance reform? Explain your answer.



The only way to take money out of politics is to have full federal funding of
presidential and congressional elections.
In a free country with democratic elections, it makes no sense to try to limit
how much money voters and candidates can contribute to campaigns. If
people have the money and want to spend it on campaigns, then they
should be able to.
We have to balance the rights of those who want to contribute money to
campaigns against the need to fight corruption and undue influence in
politics. The best way to do this is through disclosure laws: let everyone see
who is giving money to candidates. If elected officials favor the special
interests that funded their campaigns. The voters can vote them out of
office in the next election.
b. Which of the following is closest to your view of judicial
election? Explain your answer.



Money and judicial elections do don't mix. Independent commissions
should appoint judges. Politics should be taken out of choosing judges.
The chief executive-the governor- should nominate judges, and the state
legislatures should confirm them.
In a democracy we have to trust the people. Judges should be elected just
like other officials